Open Thread – Linda Kellen Biegel at the Bartlett Club!
Yes, our very own Linda Kellen Biegel will be the featured speaker at the Bartlett Democratic Club luncheon Thursday, May 31. Come to the Denny’s on DeBarr in Anchorage at noon. Have some lunch, and hear Linda’s wrap up of the Municipal election circus. She’s been bulldogging this issue from the beginning to the end, and will share her insights about what went wrong, and what we need to do.
Election integrity is a non-partisan issue, and is the foundation of our democracy. Thanks to all who stand up for the thing that truly makes America exceptional – our right to vote, to choose our representatives, and to have our vote count the way we want it to, every time.
Enjoy Ilya Gerner’s “Ten Great Moments in Political Misspellings” which comes from Comedy Central’s Indecision Forever:
http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/05/30/ten-great-moments-in-political-misspellings?xrs=eml_indy0405
OK, when Nanny Bloomberg decided that to fight obesity, he was going to BAN sugary drinks over 16 oz. in restaurants, movie theaters, sports arenas, etc., my roommate asked, “What’s he hiding? Every time the media latch on to something like this, he’s stealing millions … ”
I got the answer tout de suite. First, he VETOED the living wage bill. Just as bad, the proposed budget cuts funding for the Bronx Zoo and NY Aquarium by 58%. FIFTY-EIGHT PERCENT!! What are they supposed to do, feed the big cats Hamburger Helper? I’m livid. If you are, too, you can take action here:
https://secure3.convio.net/wcs/site/Advocacycmd=display&page=UserAction&id=459&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=f35sfcjqj4.app334a
If you don’t live in NY, personalize your letter to say something along the lines of “As a tourist, there’s little I like better than taking a train from Grand Central to the NY Botanical Gardens and the Bronx Zoo, and I’m horrified by these funding cuts.” He’s also firing teachers and closing schools. Evil old queen.
Is it just me, or does the new tagline on the site — “News & Politics from the Upper Left Corner” — evoke visions of a New Hampshire or Vermont locale? I always figured AK to be in the upper right hand corner of the US…
Yup, the new layout is going to take some getting used to — I totally agree with benlomand2 on that one. So far, I think my bigest “wha??????”s are:
Having the Open threads set apart from the politic-y stuff threads;
Not having my name and mail info automatically ‘there’ (already filled in) when I go to make a comment;
Having the identifying icon on the right side of the post, rather than the left.
I really like the first one (the grouping of the Open threads) because I can always find the latest one, now, should I want to make a comment on random things not related to the ‘headline’ article. I’m not too sure about the other two, though… There’s been many a time when I’ve written a post and forgotten to check that my last computer glitch hadn’t wiped out my ‘automatic’ info — I hit “submit” and have the whole thing go Poof into thin air. I liked the automatically filled-in feature. A lot. And I didn’t realize it, but my eye-brain connection rebels at reading a handle and then having to skip way to the right to ‘confirm’ it via an icon. I’m soooo much more comfortable with the handle and icon, together, on the left-hand side of a post.
So, that’s my two-centts worth — overall, I really like the changes. And I love the “like” feature! beth.
A COUPLE OF TECHNICAL THINGIES:
1) Will the ‘old’ formatting commands still work? Like [b]bold[/b], [i]Italics[/i], etc.?
2) On the home page, when you put the mouse arrow on an article title (next to the changing pictures), you get a pointy finger, but no matter how many times you click on it, the pointy finger takes you nowhere. I think there is no actual link hooked up to [any of] the underlined article titles.
3) All of the pages have a “Leave A Comment” space — was that intentional? You want folks to comment on Blogroll?
4) The “About” section is blank (except for the “Leave a Comment” space).
5. I haven’t been able to find “Contact Us” information. Should people use any of the “Leave A Comment” spaces to get in touch with Jeanne and/or the ‘flats as a whole (for technical problems, etc.)? b.
What I *REALLY* need is a 5-minute “edit window” so I can read what I’ve posted and remove the “Ye Gads, I’m a dumb adz” parts! Case in point: Of *COURSE* Alaska is in the Upper LEFT corner of the US…New Hampshire and Vermont are in the RIGHT hand corner. Oy vey! — what a dumb adz I am. beth.
S’okay. A lot of maps of the “United States” don’t show Alaska or Hawaii at all, and many of the maps which do include Alaska shrink it way down so that it appears to be a medium-sized island off the southern coast of Arizona. If you put us in any upper corner, you done good. If you got the scale correct, you done great.
An edit function would be appreciated, though. I try to proofread my comments before clicking on “submit comment” . . . but I have the occasional senior moment. It would be nice if I could go back later and correct the typos in my comments.
And automated fill in for name, mail, etc — like in the good old days — would be, you know, like in the good old days.
On the home page, clicking on an article title changes the large picture on the left to match the article. Then clicking on the large picture takes you to the article. Seems a bit clunky; two steps instead of one.
I guess I’m just spoiled and cranky. But you knew that already.
Maps of Australia often leave off Tasmania. I know, Alaska’s bigger. If it’s any consolation (I know it isn’t), Zyxomma had a job making standardized maps (tracing existing maps that had been enlarged or shrunk to the scale they were using, and making all symbols consistent).
Because I was the only draftsman who never had a map returned for correction (that included what we referred to as spaghetti), I was entrusted with all the Alaska maps. Well, “maps” is a bit of a stretch. What I was given to trace were aerial photos with the “streets” lettered in.
I would never dream of shoving Alaska into some inappropriate corner, nor would I fail to show its enormity. But only if it were up to me. Love to HI, too, which also gets redheaded stepchild treatment. Maybe AK and HI are being punished for being too beautiful.
Thank you, Linda, all the way from Michigan for standing up for free and honest elections. It’s a shame but we must all be more vigilant than ever in protecting elections. There is always the specter of 2000 to remember.
We finally have some cooler weather here for a few days. Maybe even some rain tomorrow. I’ve had to water the vegetables almost every day. On the plus side, I only water the plants and the weeds are struggling. 🙂
I have two itty bitty zucchini starting and a few tomatoes. The corn is over knee high as well. I need more room!
merrycricket, did you know that squash blossoms are not only edible, but a delicacy? Reach inside and pinch off the stamens, and you’ve got a stuffing space. Or cut them up and put them in salad. I know how out-of-control zucchini growth can be. Eating the blossoms is one solution. Since I love raw, organic food, I stuffed two with a macadamia cheeze the other night, and had them with my wild salad. Yum.
Knock’em for a loop, Linda !!
Entering our typical Ca weather pattern here, coastal fog in am, sunny skies and 70′- 80 temps…. until Oct arrives.
New format will take some adjusting to…
Sounds like a great time will be had by all. Wish I could come, but my travel time from Illinois to there would be problem! You are so NOT a goober.
Beautiful morning around here because it is getting ready to rain! Have had less than a tenth of an inch the last three weeks around here, which means no excuses to be had about taking a day off the yard work and piling up to read. Hope we have a nice soggy day, which will actually help the berm settle that we are building, and give all the herbs a boost – not that they need it. The dehydrator is going from the time I get up to sometime late at night. Crazy things. Very odd weather.
Gawd, I’m such a goober…
Aww, now I was just going to say you have a warm and friendly smile.
Not making the obvious joke about Denny’s . . . not . . . not . . . trying very hard . . .
😉 😉 🙂 🙂 🙂 !!!
Valerie Tarico has a great article at AlterNet about how fundamentalists/evangelicals are creating converts — to agnosticism and atheism:
http://www.alternet.org/story/155553/8_ways_christian_fundamentalists_make_people_convert_–_to_agnosticism_or_atheism?page=entire